


come on, come on (don't leave me like this)

by thegirlinthedress



Series: tumblr prompts [1]
Category: Sugar Pine 7 RPF
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, GTA AU, M/M, mentions of violence and blood but nothing particularly graphic, someone gets shot but doesn't die because i'm not that mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 15:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14191842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlinthedress/pseuds/thegirlinthedress
Summary: He takes off down the street after Steven, sneakers pounding on the pavement and his pistol digging into the skin of his hip where it’s wedged between his body and the waistband of his jeans. Cib skids to a stop next to Steven in the middle of the parking lot, and turns to follow where Steven is looking. A wave of fear washes over him as he takes in the blackened walls of their office. The glass from the door has been smashed, only jagged remnants left clinging to the doorframe. Somewhere in the distance a siren wails, and it pushes Cib into action. A glance at Steven shows they’re on the same page, because one of their neighbours is bound to have called for help and they’re all technically wanted criminals so it’s best if they get their crew out of the office before the police show up.If there’s anything left of the crew, a voice in Cib’s head says, and he does his best to quash the fear that’s been gnawing up his insides the entire journey back from the warehouse.





	come on, come on (don't leave me like this)

**Author's Note:**

> i'm writing short fics based on tumblr prompts to get myself back into writing more frequently
> 
> there's no real established canon for sp7 gta au so i went wild with my own headcanons for this
> 
> special thanks to lola for being my parcib partner in crime
> 
> all mistakes/typos are my own
> 
> prompt: "you can't die, please don't die"  
> title from: 'haunted' by taylor swift

Something doesn’t feel right, but Cib can’t put his finger on what it is. He’s in the backseat of the car while Steven gives the world’s most confusing directions to Jeremy, so neither of them are paying any attention to him. Cib thinks about making a comment about Steven being the world’s shittest satnav, but Steven is in boss mode and Cib is supposed to be on his best behaviour so he holds it in. He might go for it if James were with him, but he’s not sure Jeremy would even acknowledge his joke.

He can live with telling Parker about it later, because he knows Parker’s entire being will light up while he laughs. Cib’s long since stopped caring that most days his reason for getting out of bed is to do something that’ll make Parker smile. It’s a better deal than what his life was like before, when all his actions carried a distinct lack of any kind of self preservation. It’s easy to not fear dying when you’ve got no real incentive to keep living. He’s still reckless, but it’s much easier to pull himself back down from the edge now that he has someone waiting for him to come back.

Apparently part of the journey to becoming a legitimate crew is having to fend off their very own copycat. Bitter Bonsai 8 have been creeping into their territory for months, but they haven’t really had a game plan for how to deal with them. A few days before, they’d had a breakthrough in the form of Autumn stumbling across intel about Bitter Bonsai 8’s properties. For all of Steven’s bravado to outsiders, they’re all in mutual agreement that they don’t have enough manpower to win a fight against the other crew.

Instead, they opt for setting up a negotiation with the other crew. Someone needs to stick around to keep their day to day operations going, so Steven only brings Jeremy and Cib with him. Steven’s the negotiator, Jeremy’s the muscle, and Cib is the wildcard. It’s all their bases covered.

The warehouse is out of the city, where the skyscrapers fall away into deserted lots and long stretches of nothing. It’s about an hour from their base, and Cib’s antsy for the entire journey. He can’t put into words why he’s feeling so off, so he doesn’t feel like it warrants bothering Steven with it. That’s what he tells himself as an attempt at reassurance, trying his best to ignore how he can’t sit still and how he feels like his brain is going to vibrate out of his skull even after he pulls away from leaning on the window.

Once they’re out of the inner city traffic, Jeremy forgets what a speed limit is. The land around them passes by in a blur of colour, and all too soon they’re pulling up to the front of the warehouse. Cib throws off his seatbelt and stumbles out of the car, hoping the cool breeze will calm the mess his nerves are in. It doesn’t, but it’s still better than being cooped up in the hot, stale air of the car.

Once Jeremy has checked the perimeter and found no one, they approach the front door. It’s unlocked, which sets off more mental alarm bells because they still haven’t encountered anyone from their rival crew. It’s too quiet, like they’re in a horror movie about to walk to their doom while the hypothetical background music builds in a crescendo.

When Cib walks through the door into the warehouse, the nagging sense of doom in the back of his mind snaps into focus. The building is empty. There are no traces of the crew who own it. From what he can see from a few steps in from the doorway, there’s no trace of anyone having been in the building in quite some time, which means-

“They tricked us” Cib says, although it’s a rather redundant statement. From the sour look on Steven’s face, their leader has already realised this. “What do we do?”

“We should look around, see if there’s anything they left that we can take” Steven says, pulling his phone out of his pocket, “Then it’s back to seeing what other information Autumn and Parker can dig up.”

“I don’t think we have time for that” Jeremy says from behind them. Cib turns half a second behind Steven, and they both wait for an explanation. “If we found their base that easily, then they’ve probably found ours. You know, the one we left almost defenseless to come all the way out here.”

It clicks for Steven before it registers for Cib, “You think they’d double cross us like that?”

“They already know about us” Jeremy says, “They know they could beat us in a fight if we’re all together, splitting us up just makes it easier for them to take us down. Especially if they go for our crew first and cripple our sources of intel. Makes us less likely to be able to retaliate. It’s how I’d do it.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into our weaknesses” Steven says. Jeremy’s always been creepy, but they’re almost certain at this point that he’s on their side. Parker vouches for him, and that’s enough to get Cib to trust him. It’s lucky Parker is so morally good at heart, because the power he has over Cib would be dangerous in the wrong hands.

“Someone has to” Jeremy says, “if we want any chance of making it out of this alive.”

Steven gives him a long look, “We need to head back. Drive as fast as you can. Cib, call Parker. I’ll call James.” He keeps speaking as they hurry out of the warehouse, door left wide open. “If Jeremy’s right, Bitter Bonsai will probably wait until we’re out of the city before they strike, so we’re as far away as possible. We might still be able to warn the others.”

Jeremy’s speeding back out onto the road before Cib even has time to get his seatbelt on. He’s never been happier about Jeremy’s loose respect for traffic laws. The thought of Parker being in danger has him reeling, and he fumbles his phone out of his pocket. He has no new messages, the most recent thing is his text chain with Parker from hours before. This sends his heartrate spiking up, and he pulls up Parker’s contact info.

The call goes straight to voicemail, and Cib feels like he might actually be on the verge of a heart attack. The second and third calls have the same result. He looks up from his phone in Steven’s direction, full of hope that Steven’s made contact. It becomes apparent fast that he’s had just as much luck as Cib.

“James won’t pick up” Steven says, making eye contact with Cib via the rear-view, “Autumn goes straight to voicemail as well. And Alfredo doesn’t even know how to use a phone.”

“I got Parker’s voicemail” Cib says, although it’s obvious from the fact that his phone is on the seat next to him that he didn’t make contact.

Steven swears loudly and tells Jeremy to drive faster.

**-**

They can see the smoke before they reach the block their hideout is on. The plumes of smoke hang in the air, grey and foreboding. Dark clouds hanging over their building looks a little too much like an omen of death for Cib’s liking. From the way Steven is out of the passenger seat before Jeremy’s even parked the car, he’s not the only one feeling unsettled.

He takes off down the street after Steven, sneakers pounding on the pavement and his pistol digging into the skin of his hip where it’s wedged between his body and the waistband of his jeans. Cib skids to a stop next to Steven in the middle of the parking lot, and turns to follow where Steven is looking. A wave of fear washes over him as he takes in the blackened walls of their office. The glass from the door has been smashed, only jagged remnants left clinging to the doorframe. Somewhere in the distance a siren wails, and it pushes Cib into action. A glance at Steven shows they’re on the same page, because one of their neighbours is bound to have called for help and they’re all technically wanted criminals so it’s best if they get their crew out of the office before the police show up.

 _If there’s anything left of the crew_ , a voice in Cib’s head says, and he does his best to quash the fear that’s been gnawing up his insides the entire journey back from the warehouse. The radio silence from the others had been alarming even before the discovery that someone had torched their base. As Cib clatters up the stairs to their entrance, Steven bounding up behind him, he feels a chill down his entire body. He doesn’t scare easily - can’t afford to in his line of work - but he’s downright terrified at the thought of what they might find when they go inside.

The inner circle of their crew is still small, meaning Cib knows with almost certainty exactly who would’ve been in the office that day. Autumn, James, Alfredo, and Parker. Cib is worried for all of them, they’re his family, but nothing can compare to the all-encompassing terror he feels at the possibility that he’s about the find Parker’s dead body.

He forgoes finding his keys, because the door is in such a wreck that all it takes to open it is one kick. Pain throbs in Cib’s toes, because his sneakers are pretty thin and lacking in protection, but the adrenaline coursing through his body overpowers every other sensation. He’s so desperate to find Parker that he’d walk over all the broken glass barefoot if he had to.  

The gloom of the smoke is worse inside. None of the lights work, one of them is smashed to pieces on the floor, and so all that they have is the natural light filtering in through what used to be the front window. It’s enough for Cib to see the destruction in the room. There are scorch marks up the walls, and the computer equipment is all in ruins. Fragments of an incendiary device litter the floor, mixed in with other debris.

Autumn’s kneeling on the ground by the door coughing, and she looks like she’s not in the greatest shape, but Cib bypasses her. He knows he’ll feel guilty about it later, but in the moment his entire focus is on making sure Parker is safe. The longer he goes without confirmation of Parker’s safety, the more Cib’s heart hammers against his ribcage. The anxiety swirling through his mind is almost overwhelming, and it’s all he can do to keep putting one foot in front of the other as he hurries through the wreck of their base.

Steven isn’t behind him anymore, so Cib assumes he’s stopped to tend to Autumn. Cib barrels through the main room, wrinkling his nose at the horrible smells he’s assaulted by. The smell of burnt rubber and plastic is bad enough, but it’s mixed with what it takes Cib a moment to realise is burnt flesh. There’s a body near the door to the backroom. Cib’s heart is in his throat when he forces himself to look over at it. He feels an awful sense of relief when it’s not anyone he recognises. It’s one of their hired guns, and it’s an awful way to die but, selfishly, all Cib can think is that it’s preferable to it being one of their crew. So far Autumn is the only one accounted for, a fact that the little voice in the back of Cib’s mind wastes no time in reminding him.

He finds James in the backroom, kneeling over someone on the floor. His jeans are soaked with blood from the pool he’s kneeling in, and his clothes are covered in patches of blood and dirt. James has his hands pressed to the torso of whoever he’s leaning over. There’s a streak of blood smeared across the floor from James dragging them to safety. The face of the person is hidden from view from Cib’s position in the doorway, but he knows exactly who it is anyway.

It feels like Cib’s entire world has tilted on its axis. He’s across the room and crashing to his knees on Parker’s other side. Pain flares up in his knees as they make contact with the concrete floor, and there’s a warm sensation as blood soaks into his jeans.

He catches Parker’s eye, and Parker smiles at him like he doesn’t have a gunshot wound to the chest and his life isn’t in immediate danger. Cib tries to smile back, but it’s tight. He takes Parker’s hand because James is already putting pressure on the wound and he’s not sure what else he can do. There’s so much blood staining the front of Parker’s shirt, and he’s so pale, that Cib is almost afraid to touch him for fear of making anything worse.

“What happened?” Cib asks, forcing the words out of his mouth. His eyes refuse to leave Parker’s, but he’s addressing the question to James.

“Bonsai showed up a while after you left” James says, “Shot up the place and threw a bomb in. Did you see Autumn out there? I haven’t seen her since I dragged Parker in here.”

“She’s with Steven” Cib replies, and then winces after James puts more pressure on Parker’s chest and Parker lets out a noise of pain.

“He’s losing a lot of blood” James says, and there’s a note of worry in his voice.

Parker’s still locking eyes with Cib, but he looks tired. His eyelids are drooping and Cib scrambles for a way to keep him awake.

“You can’t die” Cib says, clasping Parker’s hand in his own like he can tether Parker to him if he grips it hard enough. The next sentence is softer, slipping out of his mouth in little more than a whisper, “Please don’t die.”

“We need to move” Steven’s voice comes from the doorway, and Cib finally tears his gaze away from Parker to look at him. Steven’s got his phone in one hand, and Autumn leaning against his other side. “Jamie and Mimi are a few blocks away, we need to get Parker to them and then figure out our next move.”

-

James carries Parker out to the car while Cib follows close behind. The journey is for the most part a blur, because he’s got tunnel vision focused in on Parker. Cib only vaguely pays attention to Steven dragging Autumn off to another car while James puts Parker into Jeremy’s car. Cib climbs in after them, and then Jeremy speeds off as soon as the door is closed.

Cib and James don’t bother with seatbelts while they cram into the backseat trying to keep Parker comfortable. Jeremy drives as fast as he can without causing an accident, but Cib accepts the fact that they’re all dead if they do crash. He’d welcome death with open arms if he has to watch Parker bleed out on the worn out backseat of Jeremy’s beat up car.

He’s glad Steven called ahead, because Jamie is outside waiting for them when they arrive. They don’t have to waste time on explanations. He trails behind James as they get Parker upstairs. Cib feels guilty that he’s not the one carrying his boyfriend, but also he’s not entirely sure he wouldn’t manage to fuck it up somehow.

When they get into the apartment, Jamie directs James through to the backroom where Mimi is set up. Cib moves to follow, but his path is blocked.

“I need to be with him” Cib says, and he’s trying not to beg but he will if he has to. The door closes behind Jamie and Cib loses his line of sight on Parker.

Jamie’s look is so full of pity, and it’s the only reason Cib doesn’t resort to physical violence to get by him. The voice of reason in his brain - the one that at some point started to sound suspiciously like Parker - reminds him that Jamie is only trying to help, and that Cib lashing out won’t make things better.

“Mimi needs quiet and no distractions” Jamie says, “I’m sorry, I’ll let you know the second it’s okay for you to see him, but I can’t let you in there.”

Cib knows a lost battle when he sees one, so he sinks down onto the sofa and stares at the door. Jamie looks relieved that he doesn’t have to restrain Cib. When James comes out of the backroom a few minutes later, he and Jamie go off into the kitchen talking in hushed tones. They don’t close the door behind them, but Cib doesn’t want to spare any energy on eavesdropping when he’s focused on the sounds coming from the backroom.

With Parker no longer in front of him, Cib’s anger takes over. He’s ready to burn whoever he has to to the ground in revenge; for both Parker and for the rest of his crew.

It’s a lot harder for him to remain calm without Parker around to anchor him. Cib’s always been wild, and sometimes he lets the compulsions take over any sense of morals when he’s caught up in something. Steven’s got a policy of only hurting people who deserve it, and only deviates from it if absolutely necessary. When Cib gets too close to going too far or to hurting innocents, Parker is the one who reels him in. His voice in an earpiece is usually enough to ground Cib back in reality and sanity.

For all that their line of work is extremely dangerous, Parker and Cib have never had a real conversation about the likelihood of their relationship ending in tragedy. In fairness, they’d both been in unspoken agreement that it would probably be Cib who died first. Parker wasn’t supposed to be in any danger sitting at his laptop in the office. Cib was the one out putting his life in danger on every heist, but he’d somehow fumbled his way through everything so far.

The fastest way to get someone killed in their world is to think you’re invincible, and Cib’s been flirting with that the entire duration of his life of crime. Cib thinks it’s a cruel joke from the universe that Parker’s the one paying for Cib tempting fate.

Cib’s used to doing things, always in motion so he can avoid thinking too deeply about anything. It’s the worst kind of torture that he can’t do anything to help Parker. All he can do is wait.

**-**

Waiting for news in Jamie's living room is possibly the most excruciating experience Cib has ever been through. There's a clock on the wall, and every second ticking by seems to take an eternity.  

At some point, Steven stumbles through the door with Autumn in tow. Jamie sits her down with the first aid kit, and Steven has a short conversation with James before coming over to Cib.

“Any news?” he asks. He adopts a bored tone, but it’s obvious he’s genuinely worried.

“He’s still in there” Cib replies, gesturing towards the door, “They won’t let me in.” He doesn’t try as hard as he should to stop himself from sounding like a petulant child. Part of him hopes Steven might persuade Jamie to let them in.

“I know” Steven says, adjusting his glasses, “I told him not to.”

“You did what?” Cib asks, with more than a hint of bitterness. All the worry and anger bouncing around in his brain threatens to spill over. Steven isn’t the one he’s really angry at, but he’s been waiting for a fight for a while and he knows Steven can take it. If Cib can’t get his frustrations out by being outwardly destructive he’ll settle for blowing up a relationship instead. Anything’s better than sitting around waiting, wishing they could go after the Bitter Bonsai crew and destroy everything they have.

“I need Parker out of this alive” Steven replies, tone still calm. He and Cib have known each other long enough that Steven is following Cib’s thought process and refusing to let him get into a fight. “And for that I need Mimi to do her job. Which she can’t do if you’re in there.”

“That’s not your call to make.”

Steven breathes in deeply, and then heaves out a sigh, “I know you’re worried, but I have to do what’s best for everyone right now. And what’s best for Parker is you not being in there.”

They’re at a stalemate, and they both know it.

“I need to make a call” Steven says, after a pause, “I need to see if we can get anyone out here to help us. If you want to go after those Bonsai fucks we will, but not right now. We can’t go after them unless we’re sure we can win. I’m not letting anyone else get hurt.”

There isn’t much Cib can say to that, so he just nods.

-

Steven spends a large chunk of time with a phone jammed to his ear. Cib sits on the sofa and alternates between staring at the door to the back bedroom and watching Steven on the phone. He relays the day's events to whoever is on the other end through gritted teeth. Cib can’t help but listen in.

"We're all alive. For now, anyway" Steven says in answer to a question Cib doesn't hear, and he sounds weary. If Cib feels bad, he can't imagine the guilt eating at Steven. "Cib, Jeremy, and I weren't there. James is banged up but he'll be fine, Autumn's the same but worse. Parker got shot, Jamie and Mimi are doing what they can but...we don't know what's happening yet."

It's awful to hear it laid out so matter-of-factly, but at least Cib's not the one who has to do it. He's not sure he has the mental strength to relive the day to anyone else yet. His mind is stuck thinking back to a long gone conversation about family and hometowns. Parker's parents live just outside LA, and Cib is hoping with everything he has that he won't be making a housecall to them to deliver bad news.

Any conversation that takes place happens in hushed tones. No one seems to want to speak too loudly for fear of bursting the tentative bubble of quiet. Everything hangs in limbo while they wait for both Parker and to see if any other attacks are coming while they’re at their weakest.

Jeremy slips away at some point, Steven is on the phone, and Autumn sits with her head leaning on James’ shoulder. Cib feels like part of him is missing, because he’s spent every group gathering for a long time pressed up against Parker’s side.

After a while, James and Steven leave to go back for the office. Most of what they say to Cib goes over his head, but he does catch something about retrieving anything that can be salvaged. It’s a smart move, one that wouldn’t have occurred to Cib, which is another reason why he’s happy to defer to Steven as crew leader. He’s not sure he could take the pressure of having to keep everyone together when everything has fallen apart so badly.

Autumn sits so quietly that Cib half forgets she’s there until she jerks her head in his direction and says, “I should’ve realised it was too easy to find their base.” Her voice is hoarse, and Cib hopes the amount of smoke she inhaled won’t come back to bit them in the ass later.

“It’s not your fault” Cib replies, and he doesn’t blame her. They’re all equally guilty of not realising that this might happen. “We should’ve left the office better defended. Or asked for the meeting to happen in the city.”

Autumn curls her arms around her knees and huddles in on herself. Her hair falls over her face and she avoids eye contact with Cib. He wants to help her, but he doesn’t know how so they go back to their silent waiting instead.

-

Cib’s on his feet as soon as the door opens. Jamie steps out, and Cib scrutinises the expression on his face to figure out if he should be expecting the worst.

“Is he-?” Cib asks, unable to keep the hopeful edge out of his voice.

“He’s stable” Jamie replies, and Cib feels a bigger sense of relief than he’s ever felt in his life “He lost a lot of blood, and really we should’ve taken him to an actual doctor, but he’s alright for now.”

“Can I see him?” Cib asks, but Jamie shakes his head.

“Mimi needs to finish up and make sure there’s nothing we’ve missed” he says, “Then you can see him once

On one hand, waiting while he knows Parker isn’t on his deathbed anymore is preferable to before. On the other hand, he’s having a much harder time not breaking down the door when he knows it’s the only thing separating them.

-

Not long after, a distraction arrives in the form of James and Steven returning from the office. It takes them several trips to bring everything up from the car that they’ve brought back with them. As Cib watches the stuff being piled up in the corner - he could offer to help, but his mind is elsewhere - he notes that it’s more stuff than he thought based on what he’d seen of the debris in their office.

The items saved from the wreck formerly known as their base include:

  * a myriad of guns, ammo, and explosives
  * a variety of toiletries and clothes belonging to various crew members (they share clothes so often anyway that Cib isn’t sure he even picked up his own shirt to wear that morning)
  * a crate of burner phones (they keep a stash on hand both to help them avoid the police and because they’re all generally bad at not losing their phones)
  * a pile of usb drives, varying degrees of singed
  * autumn's laptop (when Cib makes a tentative comment about Parker's equipment, Steven tells him that a laptop with a bullet through it wasn't worth saving, but they did pull out the hard drive. Cib resists the temptation to go back for the laptop to give it the funeral it deserves for taking a bullet meant for Cib's boyfriend)



-

What feels like an entire lifetime later, Mimi comes out of the back room. The amount of blood staining her clothes makes Cib’s head spin, even though he’s not particularly squeamish. He thinks about it combined with the blood on his own clothes and the streaks on the floor in the office. It seems like a lot of blood to be outside the body.

“He’s lost a lot of blood but I think he’ll be fine now” Mimi says, “He’ll be unconscious for a while, though. I had to give him some pretty strong pain meds. You can see him if you want, just-”

Whatever the end of her sentence is, it’s lost on Cib. He vaults over the arm of the sofa and throws himself at the door. The door bounces off the wall when he flings it open, but he’s too focused on Parker to think about apologising.

When he gets into the room, Cib makes a beeline for the bed. In the time he’s been away from Parker, Cib’s had plenty of time for his mind to come up with horrifying images of him injured. Considering Parker’s been through improvised surgery for a gunshot wound, he looks better than Cib was expecting.

He’s pale and far too still, but Mimi has cleaned him up as best she can so at least there’s no blood to be seen. The bandages on his chest are covered by a loose t shirt liberated from somewhere.

Cib drops into the chair someone’s pulled up to the bed, and places a tentative hand on Parker’s arm. Some part of him, however irrational it is, expects this to be enough to wake his boyfriend up. However, nothing happens, and Cib resigns himself to yet more waiting. He’ll wait as long as he has to as long as it means Parker’s okay.

There’s a noise behind him, and he glances over his shoulder. He catches sight of Steven in the doorway, with Autumn and James peering around him. They’ve been worried too, they all care about Parker, but Cib appreciates that they’re giving him space. He’s glad he’s found a family who have such a deep, unspoken understanding of his needs.

-

It’s another day before Parker is awake, and Cib spends the entire duration of it by his side except for the bathroom breaks he’s forced to take. The others all know he won’t leave Parker’s side for more than a few minutes, so they work around him. Everyone else visits in shifts, but Cib wants to make sure there’s someone there at all times so Parker won’t wake up alone.

Steven makes a comment about how they could use Cib’s help with calling in favours with any of their contacts willing to help them, but he doesn’t push it after that.

-

Cib jolts awake to fingers brushing across his shoulder. He’d fallen asleep with his body folded into the chair and his head against Parker’s leg. When he jerks upright, entire body on high alert, he sees Parker staring at him. As the sleep clouding his brain clears, he realises that this is a pretty important thing.

“Hey” Cib breathes out, “You’re awake.” He can’t help his face breaking out into a smile as his eyes sweep over Parker’s body.

“I’m awake” Parker replies. His speech is slow, but it’s coherent and he seems like he knows what’s going on. Cib wonders how long he’s been conscious, and kicks himself mentally for not being awake sooner.

“How are you feeling?” Cib asks.

“Like I got shot” Parker replies, “And then slept for ages.”

Cib nods at his response, figuring it’s a good sign that Parker knows what happened unprompted. He knows he should go tell Mimi that Parker’s awake, but he’s hesitant to end their moment alone. Talking seems like it’s a considerable amount of effort for Parker, so Cib lets them lapse into a comfortable silence. He’s content just to be in Parker’s presence.

“Thanks” Cib says finally, threading their fingers together as he takes Parker’s hand again. This time he’s much gentler about it, keeping his grip loose and light. “For not dying.”

On a giddy impulse, he leans forward and presses a kiss to the side of Parker’s head. Parker’s smiling at him when he pulls away. He smiles at most things people have said to him since waking up, because he’s high on pain medication, but Cib’s going to take credit for this one anyway. He doesn’t want to think about how close he came to never getting to see his boyfriend smile again.

“You did say please” Parker replies, “You never say please. Thought it must be important.”

“You remember that?” Cib asks, eyebrows creasing into a frown.

“I remember getting shot” Parker tries to shrug, and then winces as it pulls at the stitches in his chest, “And then I remember you. That’s about it.”

“You don’t remember James dragging you into the other room?” Cib asks. No one else has to know about the swell of happiness he feels at knowing he was some comfort to Parker while he was almost bleeding out.

“No” Parker frowns and seems to realise they’re the only ones in the room, “Where are the others? Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone’s fine” Cib hurries to tell him, because he doesn’t think getting Parker riled up with worry would be good for him. “A little banged up, but fine. No one else got shot. The office is gone but we’re all still alive.” He pauses, then goes on, “They’re trying to get help so we can track down those Bonsai fucks.”

“They’re the ones who attacked the office?” Parker asks.

Cib gives him a grin, “We’re gonna burn them to the ground for hurting you.”

Parker frowns, “If it wasn’t them, it would’ve been someone else. Always the possibility one of us would get shot.”

“Yeah” Cib says, “But it’s supposed to be me who gets hurt. You’re supposed to be safe.”

They’re probably going to have a more serious conversation about this later, because Cib can see it in Parker’s eyes that he’s not about to let this go. Cib knows they need to talk about what this means for their relationship; he needs Parker to understand that he’s never felt fear like he did thinking Parker might not survive. But Parker looks exhausted, so Cib decides it can wait. They’ve got time.

“I’m gonna tell Mimi and Steven you’re awake” Cib says, pulling his hand out of Parker’s and climbing out of the chair, “I’ll be right back.”

“I’m not going anywhere” Parker replies, but his eyelids are already drooping again. Cib knows he’ll most likely be asleep again by the time he gets back. He pauses in the doorway to look back at his boyfriend, and then goes to look for the others.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm amyjake and parcibs on tumblr, please feel free to come talk to me about this ship or sp7 in general


End file.
